Systems and methods for translating messages between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity

ABSTRACT

An inbound message including medical record content may be received. The inbound message may indicate a healthcare entity and a vendor entity. It may be determined, from the healthcare entity and stored correspondences between medical record formats and healthcare entities, that the medical record content of the inbound message is in a first medical record format. Which configuration record of stored configuration records specifying combinations of sets of rules may be determined to apply as a translation to the inbound message based upon the medical record content of the inbound message and the first medical record format. The sets of rules as indicated by the configuration record may be accessed and applied to the inbound message to translate the medical record content in the inbound message from the first medical record format to the standardized format. The standardized format may be transmitted to the vendor entity.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to systems and methods for translating messagesthat include medical record content between a healthcare entity and avendor entity based upon a health record format associated with thehealthcare entity.

BACKGROUND

Medical records are an important aspect of medical treatment for apatient. Medical records include a variety of information regarding thepatient's biographical and/or demographical information. Paper-basedmedical records have moved to electronic medical records. Electronicmedical records may be stored in various formats, some of which havebeen attempted to be standardized. Interaction between healthcareproviders and service providers have been increasingly difficult withdifferences in communications including content formatted in differentways.

SUMMARY

The disclosure relates to translating messages that include medicalrecord content between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity, inaccordance with one or more implementations. Data from healthcareentities (e.g., healthcare providers) may be represented in a variety offormats (e.g., medical record formats). Within individual formats,representation of information (e.g., patient identifiers, patient name,patient sex, etc.) inside messages may vary across electronic healthrecords and healthcare systems. Messages may be translated such thatmessages may be received and/or transmitted in any format or structure(e.g., medical record format) associated with the healthcare entity. Atranslation may be applied to the messages to translate and/or normalizethe medical record content included within the messages to astandardized format. The medical record format and/or the medical recordcontent may be standardized such that similar information (e.g., patientID, patient sex, etc.) may be found in the same place within thestandardized format regardless of the source of the information (e.g.,regardless of the healthcare entity and/or the vendor entity). Thetranslation may be applied and/or performed bi-directionally, such thatoutgoing messages from healthcare entities and/or incoming messages tohealthcare entities may be translated to and/or from the standardizedmodel based upon the medical record format associated with the receivingand/or transmitting healthcare entity.

In some implementations, a system configured to translate messages thatinclude medical record content between a healthcare entity and a vendorentity may include one or more servers. The server(s) may be configuredto communicate with one or more client computing platforms according toa client/server architecture. The server(s) may be configured to executeone or more computer program components. The computer program componentsmay include one or more of an receiving component, a determinationcomponent, a translation component, a transmission component, and/orother components.

The system may provide a consistent experience to consumers ofhealthcare entities and/or vendor entities. Messages may be translatedto a standardized format and the standardized format may be exposed viaan application program interface. Applications associated with thevendor entities may interact with the standardized format, makingcommunications and/or integration with healthcare entities with varyingmedical record formats easy and seamless. Vendor entities and/orhealthcare entities may connect quickly without having to customizetheir own systems for individual medical record formats in order tocommunicate with different entities associated with different medicalrecord formats.

Electronic storage may be configured to store correspondences betweenmedical record formats and healthcare entities, including acorrespondence between a first medical record format and a firsthealthcare entity and a correspondence between a second medical recordformat and a second healthcare entity. The correspondences may includepast and/or current correspondences between medical record formats andhealthcare entities. The correspondences may be used to determinemedical record formats of messages being transmitted between healthcareentities and/or vendor entities. Healthcare entities may includehealthcare providers, such as medical offices, hospitals, medical labs,public healthcare agencies, and the like. The healthcare entities maystore medical record information.

Medical record information may be stored by healthcare entities in theform of electronic health records. An electronic health record mayinclude a digital version of traditional paper-based medical records. Anelectronic health record may be stored in different formats (e.g.,medical record formats) for different healthcare entities. Medicalrecord formats may include Health Level 7 (HL7), XML, JSON, Edifact,Dicom, X12N, NCPDP, and/or other medical record formats. The medicalrecord formats may include any past medical record formats, currentmedical record formats, and/or future medical formats.

Electronic storage may be configured to store sets of rules. The sets ofrules may be used in different combinations to translate messagesbetween multiple medical record formats and a standardized format. Themultiple medical record formats may include the first medical recordformat and the second medical record format.

Electronic storage may be configured to store configuration records. Theconfiguration records may specify combinations of the stored sets ofrules to translate messages between multiple medical record formats andthe standardized format. The configuration records may include a firstconfiguration record for the first medical record format and a secondconfiguration record for the second medical record format.

The receiving component may be configured to receive an inbound messageincluding medical record content. The inbound message may indicate thehealthcare entity and a vendor entity. The inbound message may includeany of the medical record information (e.g., medical record content)discussed above. The inbound message may indicate the healthcare entity(e.g., the inbound message may indicate that the inbound messageoriginated from healthcare entity A). The inbound message may indicatethe vendor entity for which the inbound message may be transmitted to(e.g., the vendor entity may include the destination of the inboundmessage). The vendor entity may include applications associated with aservice provider for the healthcare entity. For example, the vendorentity may include an insurance company, a pharmacy, and/or otherservice providers that may communicate and/or interact with healthcareentities and/or providers.

The determination component may be configured to determine, from thestored correspondences and indication of the healthcare entity in theinbound message, that the medical record content of the inbound messageis in the first medical record format. As discussed above, medicalrecord content originating from different healthcare entities may varyin format, style, and/or content. Based upon previously storedcorrespondences and the indication of indication of healthcare entity200 a, the determination component may be configured to determine in ornear real-time that the first medical record format of the inboundmessage may be HL7.

Based on the determination that the medical record content of theinbound message is in the first medical record format, the translationcomponent may be configured to apply a translation to the inboundmessage that translates the medical record content in the inboundmessage from the first medical record format to a standardized format.

The stored configuration records may start at a generalized level. Oneor more configuration records may be more specific as needed based uponcustomizations and workflows of the various applications and/or medicalrecord formats associated with the healthcare entities and/or vendorentities. The system may be configured to re-utilize and/or combineexisting configuration records via a nesting logic for varioustranslations. As such, one or more configuration records may specifysets of rules that reference nested configuration records. The nestedconfiguration records may specify combinations of sets of rules that arecommon between the one or more configuration records that reference thenested configuration records. For example, if three differentconfiguration records reference the same nested configuration record,the same sets of rules specified by the nested configuration records maybe applied by all three configuration records.

The translation component may be configured to determine whichconfiguration record to apply as a translation to the inbound messagebased upon the medical record content of the inbound message and thefirst medical record format. The translation component may be configuredto access and apply the sets of rules as indicated by the configurationrecord to the inbound message to translate the medical record content inthe inbound message from the first medical record format to thestandardized format. The sets of rules may be access from electronicstorage. The sets of rules of the configuration record may be applied inorder. The sets of rules of the configuration record may be applied inan order defined by the configuration record. If a nested configurationrecord is referenced by the configuration record, translation component110 may be configured to access the nested configuration record andapply the sets of rules as indicated by the nested configuration recordwhen referenced by the configuration record

The transmission component may be configured to effectuate transmissionof the standardized format to the vendor entity and/or an applicationassociated with the vendor entity indicated within the inbound message.The transmission component may be configured to apply a filter thatdetermines whether to continue transmitting the standardized format tothe vendor entity and/or an application associated with the vendorentity. For example, some healthcare and/or vendor entities may onlywant messages from particular departments to be sent out. Filters mayalter the content of the messages, such that only required informationmay be transmitted (e.g., only required information for a schedulingapplication, and/or other required information associated with otherapplications). The standardized format may be consumed by the vendorentity indicated by the inbound message and/or an application associatedwith the vendor entity indicated by the inbound message via anapplication program interface associated with the system. The filtersmay be provided by the individual healthcare entities and/or theindividual vendor entities. The filters may be configured, added,deleted, customized, and/or modified by users of the individualhealthcare entities and/or the individual vendor entities.

These and other objects, features, and characteristics of the systemand/or method disclosed herein, as well as the methods of operation andfunctions of the related elements of structure and the combination ofparts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent uponconsideration of the following description and the appended claims withreference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of thisspecification, wherein like reference numerals designate correspondingparts in the various figures. It is to be expressly understood, however,that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and descriptiononly and are not intended as a definition of the limits of theinvention. As used in the specification and in the claims, the singularform of “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for translating messages that includemedical record content between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity,in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system for translating messages that includemedical record content between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity,in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram for translating messages that includemedical record content between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity,in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for translating messages that includemedical record content between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity,in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for translating messages that includemedical record content between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity,in accordance with one or more implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for translating messages that includemedical record content between a healthcare entity and a vendor entity,in accordance with one or more implementations. Data from healthcareentities (e.g., healthcare providers) may be represented in a variety offormats (e.g., medical record formats). Within individual formats,representation of information (e.g., patient identifiers, patient name,patient sex, etc.) within messages may vary across electronic healthrecords and healthcare systems. The disclosed system may translatemessages such that the system may receive and/or transmit messages inany format or structure (e.g., medical record format) associated withthe healthcare entity. A translation may be applied to the messages totranslate and/or normalize the medical record content included withinthe messages to a standardized format. The disclosed system maystandardize the medical record format and/or the medical record contentsuch that similar information (e.g., patient ID, patient sex, etc.) maybe found in the same place within the standardized format regardless ofthe source of the information (e.g., regardless of the healthcare entityand/or the vendor entity). The system may perform the translationbi-directionally, such that outgoing messages from healthcare entitiesand/or incoming messages to healthcare entities may be translated toand/or from the standardized model based upon the medical record formatassociated with the receiving and/or transmitting healthcare entity.

The system may provide a consistent experience to consumers ofhealthcare entities and/or vendor entities. Messages may be translatedto a standardized format and the standardized format may be exposed viaan application program interface. Applications associated with thevendor entities may interact with the standardized format, makingcommunications and/or integration with healthcare entities with varyingmedical record formats easy and seamless. Vendor entities and/orhealthcare entities may connect quickly without having to customizetheir own systems for individual medical record formats in order tocommunicate with different entities associated with different medicalrecord formats.

As is illustrated in FIG. 1, system 100 may include one or moreserver(s) 102. Server(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with oneor more client computing platform(s) 104 according to a client/serverarchitecture. Server(s) 102 may be configured to execute one or morecomputer program components. The computer program components may includeone or more of receiving component 106, determination component 108,translation component 110, transmission component 112, and/or othercomponents.

Users may interact with system 100 via one or more client computingplatform(s) 104. Client computing platform(s) 104 may include one ormore of a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a digital camera, a laptop,a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a television set-top box, a smartTV, a gaming console, and/or other client computing platforms.

Server(s) 102 may include electronic storage 122. Electronic storage 122may include electronic storage media that electronically storesinformation. The electronic storage media of electronic storage 122 mayinclude one or both of system storage that is provided integrally (i.e.,substantially non-removable) with server(s) 102 and/or removable storagethat is removably connectable to server(s) 102 via, for example, a port(e.g., a USB port, a firewire port, etc.) or a drive (e.g., a diskdrive, etc.). Electronic storage 122 may include one or more ofoptically readable storage media (e.g., optical disks, etc.),magnetically readable storage media (e.g., magnetic tape, magnetic harddrive, floppy drive, etc.), electrical charge-based storage media (e.g.,EEPROM, RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media (e.g., flash drive, etc.),and/or other electronically readable storage media. The electronicstorage 122 may include one or more virtual storage resources (e.g.,cloud storage, a virtual private network, and/or other virtual storageresources). Electronic storage 122 may store software algorithms,information determined by processor(s) 124, information received fromserver(s) 102, information received from client computing platform(s)104, and/or other information that enables server(s) 102 to function asdescribed herein.

Electronic storage 122 may be configured to store correspondencesbetween medical record formats and healthcare entities, including acorrespondence between a first medical record format and a firsthealthcare entity and a correspondence between a second medical recordformat and a second healthcare entity. The correspondences may includepast and/or current correspondences between medical record formats andhealthcare entities. The correspondences may be used to determinemedical record formats of messages being transmitted between healthcareentities and/or vendor entities.

Healthcare entities may include healthcare providers, such as medicaloffices, hospitals, medical labs, public healthcare agencies, and thelike. The healthcare entities may store medical record information.Medical record information may include patient information, such asdemographical and biographical information about the patients of thehealthcare providers. For example, for an individual patient, ahealthcare entity may store the patient's name, sex, age, weight,height, address, blood type, symptoms, medical history, family history,any past and/or present treatments administered, prescribed medication,prescribed procedures, tests, doctors that have treated and/or aretreating the patient, and/or other information associated with thepatient.

Medical record information may be stored by healthcare entities in theform of electronic health records. An electronic health record mayinclude a digital version of traditional paper-based medical records. Anelectronic health record may be stored in different formats (e.g.,medical record formats) for different healthcare entities. In otherwords, individual healthcare entities may be associated with differentmedical record formats such that individual healthcare entities storeand/or transmit medical record information in the format associated withthe healthcare entity. Medical record formats may include Health Level 7(HL7), XML, JSON, Edifact, Dicom, X12N, NCPDP, and/or other medicalrecord formats. The medical record formats may include any past medicalrecord formats, current medical record formats, and/or future medicalformats. For example, HL7 may include different versions of formats suchas HL7v2, HL7v3, and/or other HL7 versions. Individual versions of HL7formats may be associated with various countries. For example, themedical record format may include an Australian version of HL7v3, aUnited Kingdom version of HL7v3, a United States version of HL7v3,and/or other versions of HL7. The various medical record formats mayrefer to a set of international standards and/or framework for theexchange, integration, sharing, and/or retrieval of medical recordinformation between applications (e.g., scheduling applications, billingapplications, etc.) used by various healthcare entities and/or vendorentities.

Some medical records formats associated with different healthcareentities may be similar. For example, the first medical record formatand the second medical record format may be similar, such that the firstmedical record format is HL7 and the second medical record format isHL7. The first medical record format and the second medical recordformat may differ based upon customizations of the individual medicalrecord formats by the individual healthcare entities. For example, thefirst healthcare entity may customize the first medical record format(e.g., HL7 in this example) based upon needs and/or requirements for thefirst healthcare entity. Similarly, the second healthcare entity maycustomize the second medical record format (e.g., HL7 in this example)based upon needs and/or requirements for the second healthcare entity.In this manner, while the first medical record format and the secondmedical record format are similar in the sense that both are HL7, theyare different based upon individual customizations of the firsthealthcare entity and the second healthcare entity. This is forexemplary purposes only and is not meant to be a limitation of thisdisclosure.

Medical record information may be represented differently withinindividual medical record formats. For example, patient sex may berepresented differently within different medical record formats.“Female” may be represented as “F”, “Female”, “FEMALE”, “W”, “Woman”,“WOMAN”, as an integer (e.g., 1 or 2) that corresponds to a value formale or female, and/or may be represented in others ways with differentmedical record formats.

Correspondences between medical record formats and healthcare entitiesstored within electronic storage 122 may include a correspondencebetween a first medical record format and a first healthcare entity anda correspondence between a second medical record format and a secondhealthcare entity. This is for illustrative purposes only, as any numberof correspondences between medical record formats and healthcareentities for any number of healthcare entities may be stored withinelectronic storage 122. Individual healthcare entities may communicate,correspond, and/or interact with applications associated with vendorsand/or service providers based upon the medical record format associatedwith the healthcare entity. For example, a first medical record formatfor a first healthcare entity (e.g., a hospital) may include HL7. Asecond medical record format for a second healthcare entity (e.g., amedical office) may include XML.

Electronic storage 122 may be configured to store sets of rules. As willbe discussed in further detail below, the sets of rules may be used indifferent combinations to translate messages between multiple medicalrecord formats and a standardized format. The multiple medical recordformats may include the first medical record format and the secondmedical record format.

Electronic storage 122 may be configured to store configuration records.As will be discussed in further detail below, the configuration recordsmay specify combinations of the stored sets of rules to translatemessages between multiple medical record formats and the standardizedformat. The configuration records may include a first configurationrecord for the first medical record format and a second configurationrecord for the second medical record format.

Receiving component 108 may be configured to receive an inbound messageincluding medical record content. The inbound message may indicate thehealthcare entity and a vendor entity. The inbound message may includeany of the medical record information (e.g., medical record content)discussed above. The inbound message may indicate the healthcare entity(e.g., the inbound message may indicate that the inbound messageoriginated from healthcare entity A). The inbound message may indicatethe vendor entity for which the inbound message may be transmitted to(e.g., the vendor entity may include the destination of the inboundmessage). The vendor entity may include applications associated with aservice provider for the healthcare entity. For example, the vendorentity may include an insurance company, a pharmacy, and/or otherservice providers that may communicate and/or interact with healthcareentities and/or providers.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, healthcare entities 200 a, 200 b, . . . 200n and vendor entities 202 a, 202 b, . . . 202 n are shown. Any number ofhealthcare entities may be provided. System 100 may not limit the numberof healthcare entities system 100 communicates with. Individualhealthcare entities may include a combination of various applicationsused at and/or by the healthcare entity, such as a patient intake tool,a hospital billing program, a scheduling application, and/or othersystems and/or applications. Individual healthcare entities may operatein different geographical locations.

Similarly, any number of vendor entities may be provided. System 100 maynot limit the number of vendor entities system 100 integrates with.Individual vendor entities may integrate with system 100 such thatapplications and/or systems used by the individual vendor entities mayreceive messages and/or transmit messages via an application programinterface associated with system 100 in order to receive and/or transmitmessages in the standardized format, as will be discussed in furtherdetail below.

The inbound message including medical record content may be receivedfrom healthcare entity 200 a. The inbound message may indicate that theinbound message originated from healthcare entity 200 a. The inboundmessage may indicate that the destination of the inbound message isvendor entity 202 a and/or an application associated with vendor entity202 a. The medical record content may include a large amount of complexdata structured differently within the inbound message based upon themedical record format of the inbound message and/or the healthcareentity at which the inbound message originated from. For example, themedical record content may include a patient identification, thepatient's name, age, sex, diagnosis, family history, treatment plan,prescription, cost of treatment, and/or other biographical informationand/or demographical information associated with the patient, asdiscussed above.

Determination component 108 may be configured to determine, from thestored correspondences and indication of the healthcare entity in theinbound message, that the medical record content of the inbound messageis in the first medical record format. As discussed above, medicalrecord content originating from different healthcare entities may varyin format, style, and/or content. Based upon previously storedcorrespondences and the indication of indication of healthcare entity200 a, determination component 108 may be configured to determine in ornear real-time that the first medical record format of the inboundmessage may be HL7.

Based on the determination that the medical record content of theinbound message is in the first medical record format (e.g., HL7),translation component 110 may be configured to apply a translation tothe inbound message that translates the medical record content in theinbound message from the first medical record format to a standardizedformat. Applying the translation to the inbound message that translatesthe medical record content in the inbound message from the first medicalrecord format to the standardized format may include parsing the medicalrecord content in the inbound message into structured objects includingdata fields. Applying the translation to the inbound message thattranslates the medical record content in the inbound message from thefirst medical record format to the standardized format may includetranslating the structured objects into the standardized format byapplying a set of rules that translates the data fields from thestructured objects into standardized format fields of the standardizedformat.

The inbound message may include a particular message structure forindividual medical record formats. Given a particular medical recordformat (e.g., HL7), a specific piece of data (e.g., patient sex, patientidentifier, etc.) may reside in different locations within the inboundmessage. Individual healthcare entities that use the same medical recordformat may have a specific set of variations in common across theircustomers. Further, individual healthcare entities may have uniquevariations within their own customizations from the standard medicalrecord format. As such, simply because HL7 may be associated with and/orused by healthcare entity 200 a, it does not necessarily mean that themedical record format of HL7 is the same as the one associated withand/or used by healthcare entity 200 n. Individual healthcare entitiesthat utilize HL7 as a health record format may individually customizethe health record format for that particular healthcare entity'sapplications and/or requirements.

Applying the translation to the inbound message that translates themedical record content in the inbound message from the first medicalrecord format to the standardized format may include parsing the medicalrecord content in the inbound message into structured objects includingdata fields. For example, a structured object may include patientidentifiers with data fields including patient ID and a patient ID type.

The inbound message may include string data in the first medical recordformat (e.g., HL7). For example, the inbound message in the firstmedical record format (e.g., HL7) may include a patient identifier inthe following string: “PID|1∥abc123{circumflex over ( )}{circumflex over( )}{circumflex over ( )}MRN{circumflex over ( )}˜9999{circumflex over( )}{circumflex over ( )}{circumflex over ( )}EMPI{circumflex over( )}∥TEST{circumflex over ( )}JANE∥19800101|F∥|123”. In this example, apatient ID may be included within the inbound message in the patientidentification (PID) segment, field 3, component one and an ID type inPID segment, field 3, component four.

A second inbound message in a second medical record format (e.g., XML)may include a patient identifier in the following way:

 <recordTarget>   <patientRole>    <id extension=“12345”root=“2.16.840.1.113883.19”/>     ...   </patientRole> </recordTarget>

A third inbound message in a third medical record format (e.g., JSON)may include a patient identifier in the following string:

{“paitient_id”: “acb123” }

Applying the translation to the inbound message that translates themedical record content in the inbound message from the first medicalrecord format to the standardized format may include translating thestructured objects into the standardized format by applying a set ofrules that translates data fields from the structured objects intostandardized format fields. As discussed above, sets of rules may bestored by electronic storage 122. Electronic storage 122 may storeconfiguration records specifying combinations of the sets of rules toapply as the translation to the inbound message. Configuration recordsmay be used to solve the problem that the same variation within medicalrecord formats may be repeated at various different healthcare entitiesassociated with the medical record format. Healthcare entities thatutilize the same or similar medical record format may store data that ismore alike (e.g., even with customizations to the medical record formatsby individual healthcare entities) than healthcare entities that utilizea different medical record format. For individual healthcare entities,configuration records may normalize data for the specific ways that theindividual healthcare entities differ from one another that use the samemedical record format (e.g., HL7v2, CDA, etc.). Returning to the exampleof patient sex above, female may be represented differently amongdifferent medical record formats. The configuration records maynormalize such differences.

Configuration records may specify different combinations of the sets ofrules to translate messages between multiple medical record formats andthe standardized format. The first configuration record for the firstmedical record format may specify a first combination of sets of rulesto translate the inbound message from the first medical record format tothe standardized format. The second configuration record for the secondmedical record format may specify a second combination of sets of rulesto translate the inbound message from the second medical record formatto the standardized format. The first combination of the sets of rulesassociated with the first configuration record and the secondcombination of the sets of rules associated with the secondconfiguration record may specify the differences between first medicalrecord format and the second medical record based upon thecustomizations of the individual medical record formats.

Translation component 110 may be configured to determine whichconfiguration record to apply as a translation to the inbound messagebased upon the medical record content of the inbound message and thefirst medical record format. For example, if the first medical recordformat is HL7 and the medical record content of the inbound messageincludes a patient identifier and a patient address, translationcomponent 110 may be configured to determine which configuration recordof the stored configuration records to apply as the translation to theinbound message based upon the first medical record format being HL7 andthe medical record content of the inbound message including the patientidentifier and the patient address.

The configuration records may use a domain specific language (DSL) totranslate the medical record content of the inbound message to thestandardized format. Referring to the medical record content includedwithin the inbound message from the example above with HL7 as the firstmedical record format, a configuration record that may translate thepatient identifiers from PID-3 (e.g., PID segment, field 3) may include:

‘Patient.Identifiers[PID.3].ID’:

-   -   node: ‘PID.3.1’

‘Patient. Identifiers[PID.3].IDType’:

-   -   node: ‘PID.3.4.1        The string “‘Patient.Identifiers[PID.3].ID’” within the        configuration record above may specify a location (e.g., the        standardized format field) within the standardized format to        store the medical record content. The “node” line may indicate        the source (e.g., the data field from the structured object) of        the medical record content. The syntax of the “node” line may        vary based upon the medical record format of the inbound        message. As indicated above, “PID.3.1” may indicate that the        patient ID may be pulled from the inbound message (e.g., in the        HL7 medical record format) from the PID segment, field 3,        component one. This is for exemplary purposes only and is not        meant to be a limitation of this disclosure, as multiple sets of        rules (e.g., configuration records) may be used to translate the        inbound message to and/or from the standardized model.

For an inbound message with an XML medical record format, aconfiguration record for the XML medical record format may use the xpathquery language to specify the source of a given data element within themedical record content. For an inbound message with a JSON medicalrecord format, the same DSL syntax that describes a target locationwithin the standardized format may describe a source location within themedical record content of the inbound message.

The standardized format may include standard “data models” that messagesfrom a healthcare entity and/or application may be normalized to. Forexample, system 100 may include a “scheduling” data model that mayrepresent how system 100 communicates about patient appointments. The“scheduling data model” may include a standard way of representing thepatient, providers, location, time, and/or other aspects of the patientappointment. The standardized format may include arrays to store thenormalized and/or translated medical record content. The standardizedformat may be JSON objects, but this is not meant to be a limitation ofthis disclosure, as other standardized formats may be contemplated.Continuing with the example above, patient identifiers may berepresented in the following standardized format:

{  “Patient”: {   “Identifiers”: [{    “ID”: “abc123”,    “IDType”:“MRN”   },{    “ID”: “9999”,    “IDType”: “EMPI”   }]  } }In this manner, patient identifiers may be standardized and/ortranslated to the same standardized format. Further, the translatedmedical record content of the inbound message may be found in the samelocation within the standardized format, regardless of the medicalrecord format that the inbound message originated in.

System 100 may be configured to re-use various configuration recordsthat translates the data fields from the structured objects into thestandardized format fields. The configuration records may start at ageneralized level. The configuration records may then become morespecific as needed based upon customizations and workflows of thevarious applications and/or medical record formats associated with thehealthcare entities and/or vendor entities. System 100 may be configuredto re-utilize and/or combine existing configuration records via anesting logic for various translations. As such, one or moreconfiguration records may specify sets of rules that reference nestedconfiguration records. The nested configuration records may specifycombinations of sets of rules that are common between the one or moreconfiguration records that reference the nested configuration records.That is, if three different configuration records reference the samenested configuration record, the same sets of rules specified by thenested configuration records may be applied by all three configurationrecords.

Different configuration records may be applied to translate an inboundmessage to the standardized format. For example, a first configurationrecord may include a complete set of mappings that may be customized totranslate messages to or from a particular medical record formatassociated with a source or destination (e.g., individual healthcareentities and/or applications associated with the healthcare entities).The first configuration record may account for any quirks and/ordifferences within individual medical record formats associated withindividual healthcare entities.

Further, a second configuration record may be configured to translateparticular data fields. The second configuration record may beincomplete, in that the second configuration record may not completelytranslate the inbound message on its own. Referring to the example aboveregarding translating patient identifiers, the second configurationrecord may map PID-3 to Patient.Identifiers. This may be referred to asa “nested configuration”. Nested configurations may include reusableexisting sets of rules and/or configuration records that may composelarger sets of rules and/or configuration records to translate messages.Nested configurations may be referred to, referenced, and/or mapped fromother configuration records.

Take for example a patient object. The patient object may include a setof address fields. The address fields may be mapped in a configurationrecord that maps patient address. The patient address may be used to mapa provider address and/or a facility address. As such, system 100 may beconfigured to determine a configuration record that maps addresses anduses the set of rules of that configuration record any time an addressmay be required. For example, the following configuration records mayuse the shared configuration records (e.g., id-of-address-config, asshown below) associated with address to populate the patient address andthe provider address:

Patient.Address

-   -   Node: PID.11    -   configuration: id-of-address-config

Provider.Address

-   -   node: PV1.14    -   configuration: id-of-address-config

id: id-of-address-config

City:

-   -   Node: 3

State:

-   -   Node: 4

Nested configurations may encapsulate standard sets of variationsbetween medical record formats. For example, a first medical recordformat and a second medical record format may handle and/or formatpatient IDs differently. In this scenario, a configuration record maymap the patient object according to the following HL7 specifications:

Patient. Identifiers:

-   -   configuration: id-of-standard-config

Patient.Address:

-   -   configuration: id-of-standard-address-config

Patient. DOB:

-   -   PID.7.1.

System 100 may determine two different configuration records for theindividual medical record formats. The configuration records mayleverage the standard patient mappings and add targeted updates for anyquirks in the individual medical record formats associated with theindividual healthcare entities. The configuration records may include:

id: ehr-a-config

Patient:

-   -   configuration: id-of-standard-patient-config

Patient. Identifiers:

-   -   configuration: identifiers-from-pid-2

id: ehr-b-config

Patient:

-   -   configuration: id-of-standard-patient-config

Patient.Identifiers[PID.3].IDType:

node: PID.3.5 Must override id type, not full id handling

-   -   remaining fields

For individual healthcare entities associated with a particular medicalrecord format (e.g., the second medical record format), theconfiguration record may be customized in the following manner:

id: health-system-a

Root:

-   -   configuration: ehr-a-config    -   OBR.20:        -   node: Order.ID

Translation component 110 may be configured to access and apply the setsof rules as indicated by the configuration record to the inbound messageto translate the medical record content in the inbound message from thefirst medical record format to the standardized format. The sets ofrules may be access from electronic storage 122. The sets of rules ofthe configuration record may be applied in order. The sets of rules ofthe configuration record may be applied in an order defined by theconfiguration record. If a nested configuration record is referenced bythe configuration record, translation component 110 may be configured toaccess the nested configuration record and apply the sets of rules asindicated by the nested configuration record when referenced by theconfiguration record.

Referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of system 100 is provided. As shownin FIG. 3, an inbound message may be received by system 100. Asdescribed above, the inbound message may include medical record content.The inbound message may indicate a healthcare entity and a vendorentity. System 100 may be configured to determine, from storedcorrespondences and the indication of the healthcare entity in theinbound message, the medical record content of the inbound message is ina first medical record format. System 100 may be configured to apply atranslation to the inbound message. The translation may be based uponstored configuration records specifying sets of rules that are used indifferent combinations to translate the inbound message. Individualconfiguration records may reference different combinations of sets ofrules to apply as translation to the inbound message to translate themedical record content of the inbound message from the first medicalrecord content to a standardized format. The standardized format may beprovided to the vendor entity indicated by the inbound message.

Referring back to FIG. 1, transmission component 112 may be configuredto effectuate transmission of the standardized format to the vendorentity and/or an application associated with the vendor entity indicatedwithin the inbound message. Transmission component 112 may be configuredto apply a filter that determines whether to continue transmitting thestandardized format to the vendor entity and/or an applicationassociated with the vendor entity. For example, some healthcare and/orvendor entities may only want messages from particular departments to besent out. Filters may alter the content of the messages, such that onlyrequired information may be transmitted (e.g., only required informationfor a scheduling application, and/or other required informationassociated with other applications). The filters may filter suchinformation out of the inbound message, such that the vendor entityand/or the application associated with the vendor entity only receiveinformation permitted to be transmitted and/or released by thehealthcare entity. The standardized format may be consumed by anapplication associated with the vendor entity via an application programinterface associated with system 100. Some departments at healthcareproviders and/or clinics do not want particular medical record contentto be transmitted. The filters may be provided by the individualhealthcare entities and/or the individual vendor entities. The filtersmay be configured, added, deleted, customized, and/or modified by usersof the individual healthcare entities and/or the individual vendorentities. The filters may be stored within electronic storage 122.

Sometimes messages may be sent from an originating entity (e.g., ahealthcare entity) to a receiving entity (e.g., a vendor entity and/oran application associated with the vendor entity) and the originatingentity may not expect a response. Other times, the receiving entity(e.g., the vendor entity and/or an application associated with thevendor entity) may respond to the message from the originating entity(e.g., the healthcare entity). System 100 may be configured to receive,from the vendor entity, a vendor message (e.g., a response from thereceiving entity for the originating entity). The vendor message mayinclude medical record content in the standardized format. The vendormessage may indicate one or more healthcare entities and the vendorentity. Referring back to FIG. 2, system 100 may be configured toreceive, from vendor entity 202 a, a vendor message indicating one ormore healthcare entities 200 a, 200 b, . . . 200 n.

Based upon the stored correspondences, as discussed above, and theindication of the one or more healthcare entities in the vendor message,system 100 may be configured to determine one or more medical recordformats to translate the vendor message into. For example, if healthcareentity 200 a is associated with the HL7 medical record format, system100 may be configured to determine that the vendor message may betranslated into the HL7 medical record format before transmitting thevendor message to healthcare entity 200 a. If healthcare entity 200 b isassociated with the XML medical record format, system 100 may beconfigured to determine that the vendor message may be translated intothe XML medical record format before transmitting the vendor message tohealthcare entity 200 b. A single message and/or response may betranslated into more than one medical record format based upon thedifferent healthcare entities the message may be transmitted to.

Based on the determination that the medical record content of the vendormessage is to be translated into one or more medical record formats,system 100 may be configured to generate one or more outbound messagesbased upon the one or more medical record formats to translate thevendor message into. Referring to the example above, if a first outboundmessage is to be transmitted to healthcare entity 200 a, system 100 maybe configured to translate the vendor message into the HL7 medicalrecord format in a similar manner as described above. If a secondoutbound message is to be transmitted to healthcare entity 200 b, system100 may be configured to translate the vendor message into the XMLmedical record format. The translation from the standardized format tothe medical record format may include applying a set of rules, similarto the configuration records discussed above, to translate thestandardized format to the medical record format by translating thestandardized format into a structured object that represents theoutgoing medical record format. The structured object may then beconverted into a string to be included within a message payload for thehealthcare entity.

In some implementations, messages may be sent bi-directionally betweenhealthcare entities and vendor entities and/or applications associatedwith vendor entities. System 100 may be configured to translate themessages being transmitted to or from the medical record format to orfrom the standard format in or near real-time. As discussed above,sometimes messages may be transmitted to more than one healthcareentity, individual healthcare entities being associated with the same ordifferent medical record formats. Even if two different healthcareentities are associated with the same or similar medical record format,the individual same or similar medical record formats may differ basedupon customizations of the healthcare entity associated with the medicalrecord format. System 100 may be configured to translate messages in ornear real-time of transmission regardless of the quirks of individualmedical record formats.

System 100 may be configured to effectuate transmission of theindividual outbound messages to the individual healthcare entities.

System 100 may be configured to operate in or near real-time withmessage processing across system 100 averaging less than 400milliseconds. This allows applications and/or users to use system 100 topower real-time workflows. As such, system 100 may be configured toallow for accelerated translation and normalization.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in some implementations, server(s) 102,client computing platform(s) 104, and/or external resources 120 may beoperatively linked via one or more electronic communication links. Forexample, such electronic communication links may be established, atleast in part, via a network such as the Internet and/or other networks.It will be appreciated that this is not intended to be limiting, andthat the scope of this disclosure includes implementations in whichserver(s) 102, client computing platform(s) 104, and/or externalresources 120 may be operatively linked via some other communicationmedia.

A given client computing platform 104 may include one or more processorsconfigured to execute computer program components. The computer programcomponents may be configured to enable a producer and/or user associatedwith the given client computing platform 104 to interface with system100 and/or external resources 120, and/or provide other functionalityattributed herein to client computing platform(s) 104. By way ofnon-limiting example, the given client computing platform 104 mayinclude one or more of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheldcomputer, a NetBook, a Smartphone, a gaming console, and/or othercomputing platforms.

External resources 120 may include sources of information, hosts and/orproviders of virtual environments outside of system 100, externalentities participating with system 100, and/or other resources. In someimplementations, some or all of the functionality attributed herein toexternal resources 120 may be provided by resources included in system100.

Server(s) 102 may include electronic storage 122, one or more processors124, and/or other components. Server(s) 102 may include communicationlines, or ports to enable the exchange of information with a networkand/or other computing platforms. Illustration of server(s) 102 in FIG.1 is not intended to be limiting. Servers(s) 102 may include a pluralityof hardware, software, and/or firmware components operating together toprovide the functionality attributed herein to server(s) 102. Forexample, server(s) 102 may be implemented by a cloud of computingplatforms operating together as server(s) 102.

Processor(s) 124 may be configured to provide information processingcapabilities in server(s) 102. As such, processor(s) 124 may include oneor more of a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuitdesigned to process information, an analog circuit designed to processinformation, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronicallyprocessing information. Although processor(s) 124 is shown in FIG. 1 asa single entity, this is for illustrative purposes only. In someimplementations, processor(s) 124 may include a plurality of processingunits. These processing units may be physically located within the samedevice, or processor(s) 124 may represent processing functionality of aplurality of devices operating in coordination. The processor(s) 124 maybe configured to execute computer readable instruction components 106,108, 110, 112, and/or other components. The processor(s) 124 may beconfigured to execute components 106, 108, 110, 112, and/or othercomponents by software; hardware; firmware; some combination ofsoftware, hardware, and/or firmware; and/or other mechanisms forconfiguring processing capabilities on processor(s) 124.

It should be appreciated that although components 106, 108, 110, and 112are illustrated in FIG. 1 as being co-located within a single processingunit, in implementations in which processor(s) 124 includes multipleprocessing units, one or more of components 106, 108, 110, and/or 112may be located remotely from the other components. The description ofthe functionality provided by the different components 106, 108, 110,and/or 112 described herein is for illustrative purposes, and is notintended to be limiting, as any of components 106, 108, 110, and/or 112may provide more or less functionality than is described. For example,one or more of components 106, 108, 110, and/or 112 may be eliminated,and some or all of its functionality may be provided by other ones ofcomponents 106, 108, 110, and/or 112. As another example, processor(s)124 may be configured to execute one or more additional components thatmay perform some or all of the functionality attributed herein to one ofcomponents 106, 108, 110, and/or 112.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate methods 400 and 500, respectively, fortranslating messages that include medical record content between ahealthcare entity and a vendor entity, in accordance with one or moreimplementations. The operations of methods 400 and 500 presented beloware intended to be illustrative. In some implementations, methods 400and 500 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations notdescribed, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of methods 400 and 500are illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 described below is not intended to belimiting.

In some implementations, methods 400 and/or 500 may be implemented inone or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analogprocessor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analogcircuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of methods 400 and/or 500 in response to instructionsstored electronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of methods 400 and/or 500.

Referring to FIG. 4, at an operation 402, an inbound message includingmedical record content may be received. The inbound message may indicatethe healthcare entity and the vendor entity. Operation 402 may beperformed by a receiving component that is the same as or similar toreceiving component 106, in accordance with one or more implementations.

At an operation 404, the medical record content of the inbound messagemay be determined to be in a first medical record format based uponstored correspondences between medical record formats and healthcareentities and the indication of the healthcare entity in the inboundmessage. Operation 404 may be performed by a determination componentthat is the same as or similar to determination component 108, inaccordance with one or more implementations.

At an operation 406, a translation may be applied to the inbound messagebased upon the determination that the medical record content of theinbound message is in the first medical record format. The translationmay translate the medical record content in the inbound message from thefirst medical record format to a standardized format. Operation 406 maybe performed by a translation component that is the same as or similarto translation component 110, in accordance with one or moreimplementations.

At an operation 408, the standardized format may be transmitted to thevendor entity. Operation 408 may be performed by a transmissioncomponent that is the same as or similar to transmission component 112,in accordance with one or more implementations.

Referring to FIG. 5, at an operation 502, an inbound message includingmedical record content may be received. The inbound message may indicatethe healthcare entity and the vendor entity. Operation 502 may beperformed by a receiving component that is the same as or similar toreceiving component 106, in accordance with one or more implementations.

At an operation 504, the medical record content of the inbound messagemay be determined to be in a first medical record format based uponstored correspondences between medical record formats and healthcareentities and the indication of the healthcare entity in the inboundmessage. Operation 504 may be performed by a determination componentthat is the same as or similar to determination component 108, inaccordance with one or more implementations.

At an operation 506, which configuration record to apply as atranslation to the inbound message may be determined from storedconfiguration records based upon the medical record content of theinbound message and the first medical record format. Operation 506 maybe performed by a translation component that is the same as or similarto translation component 110, in accordance with one or moreimplementations.

At an operation 508, the sets of rules may be accessed and applied asindicated by the configuration record to the inbound message totranslate the medical record content in the inbound message from thefirst medical record format to the standardized format. Operation 508may be performed by a translation component that is the same as orsimilar to translation component 110, in accordance with one or moreimplementations.

At an operation 510, the standardized format may be transmitted to thevendor entity. Operation 510 may be performed by a transmissioncomponent that is the same as or similar to transmission component 112,in accordance with one or more implementations.

Although the system(s) and/or method(s) of this disclosure have beendescribed in detail for the purpose of illustration based on what iscurrently considered to be the most practical and preferredimplementations, it is to be understood that such detail is solely forthat purpose and that the disclosure is not limited to the disclosedimplementations, but, on the contrary, is intended to covermodifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. For example, it is to be understood thatthe present disclosure contemplates that, to the extent possible, one ormore features of any implementation can be combined with one or morefeatures of any other implementation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system configured to standardize messagecontent of messages communicated between a healthcare entity and avendor entity, the system comprising: physical non-transitory electronicstorage storing: configuration record information including sets ofrules to convert between medical record formats used by healthcareentities and a standardized medical record format; and one or morephysical computer processors configured by computer readableinstructions to: receive an inbound message including medical recordcontent in a medical record format, and indicating a healthcare entity;determine, based on the configuration record information and the medicalrecord format of the inbound message, which set of rules from the setsof rules should be used to convert the inbound message to thestandardized medical record format; convert the medical record contentin the inbound message from the medical record format to thestandardized medical record format in accordance with the set of rulesdetermined to be used; and effectuate transmission of the medical recordcontent in the standardized medical record format to a vendor entity. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein individual ones of the sets of rules areparticular to an individual medical record format used by an individualhealthcare entity.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical recordformat and other ones of the medical record formats differ based uponcustomizations made to medical record format.
 4. The system of claim 3,wherein individual rules in the sets of rules are specific to individualones of the customizations.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein a firstrule in the set of rules includes parsing the medical record content inthe inbound message into structured objects including data fields. 6.The system of claim 5, wherein a second rule in the set of rulesincludes converting the data fields from the structured objects intostandardized format fields of the standardized medical record format. 7.The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the sets of rulesreference other ones of the sets of rules.
 8. The system of claim 7,wherein the configuration record information further specifies whichrules are common between the one or more of the sets of rules and theother ones of the sets of rules.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein themedical record content includes an electronic health record.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the medical record formats follow one or morestandards of communication.
 11. A method to standardize message contentof messages communicated between a healthcare entity and a vendorentity, the method being implemented in a computer system comprising oneor more physical computer processors and non-transitory electronicstorage, the method comprising: obtaining, by the one or more physicalcomputer processors, configuration record information including sets ofrules to convert between medical record formats used by healthcareentities and a standardized medical record format; and receiving, by theone or more physical computer processors, an inbound message includingmedical record content in a medical record format, and indicating ahealthcare entity; determining, by the one or more physical computerprocessors, which set of rules from the sets of rules should be used toconvert the inbound message to the standardized medical record formatbased on the configuration record information and the medical recordformat of the inbound message; converting, by the one or more physicalcomputer processors, the medical record content in the inbound messagefrom the medical record format to the standardized medical record formatin accordance with the set of rules determined to be used; andeffectuating, by the one or more physical computer processors,transmission of the medical record content in the standardized medicalrecord format to a vendor entity.
 12. The method of claim 11, whereinindividual ones of the sets of rules are particular to an individualmedical record format used by an individual healthcare entity.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the medical record format and other ones ofthe medical record formats differ based upon customizations made tomedical record format.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein individualrules in the sets of rules are specific to individual ones of thecustomizations.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein a first rule in theset of rules includes parsing the medical record content in the inboundmessage into structured objects including data fields.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein a second rule in the set of rules includes convertingthe data fields from the structured objects into standardized formatfields of the standardized medical record format.
 17. The method ofclaim 11, wherein one or more of the sets of rules reference other onesof the sets of rules.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein theconfiguration record information further specifies which rules arecommon between the one or more of the sets of rules and the other onesof the sets of rules.
 19. The method of claim 11, wherein the medicalrecord content includes an electronic health record.
 20. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the medical record formats follow one or morestandards of communication.